Rio Grizzly
by Smileyfax
Summary: Darius Morgendorffer's short life has been about two things: Reading and horses. Until he visits Camp Grizzly one summer and meets the most annoying girl...
1. Chapter 1

It was times like these, Darius reflected as he looked up from the puddle of mud he had landed face-down in at the young woman sitting backwards on his horse smiling back at him, that he regretted ever picking up Black Beauty.

He had first picked up the book years ago, sometime in the first or second grade, and had found it enjoyable enough to purchase his own copy using the small allowance he got each week. One day, however, his father Jake actually noticed him reading it, and (as Darius watched out of the corner of his eye) began fidgeting.

Darius, even at his young age, was able to interpret his parents' behavior rather easily, and so read Jake just as easily as he did the book in his hands. His father, upon spotting the book in his hands, connected it in his brain with the idea that it was more of a girl's book, something which made him uncomfortable given that Darius was a male. However, his fear and hatred of emulating grampa 'Mad Dog' made him want to suppress this discomfort and support his son. As usual, Jake would probably decide on some third, moderate, semi-insane course of action.

The next day, Darius' room was choked with cowboy paraphernelia.

This irritated Darius some, though not as much as it did Helen, his mom. She was very displeased that Jake had unilaterally spent a substantial sum of money (which their family couldn't necessarily spare) on a complete remodeling of Darius' room (which really should have been a decision Helen shared in - nevermind Darius' opinion, of course). Jake attempted to offer a combined explanation and apology, but it was mostly incoherent, except when he would interject a burst of vitriol against the 'Old Man', and Helen just told him to forget about it.

At first, Darius thought that would be the end of it, but (to his surprise), Jake actually began spending more time with him. Granted, this usually invovled dragging him to places he would rather not have gone (i.e. anywhere), but inwardly he was a little grateful that Queen Quinn was no longer getting the lion's share of attention.

Jake took Darius to his first rodeo a few weeks into the campaign. Darius was mostly unimpressed with the festivities; he sympathized more with the cattle than with the men tasked with roping them, as he suspected they wanted to be there no more than he did. However, something about the horse riding intrigued him. After the show, he attempted to remain quiet about this, but Jake eventually prodded it out of him.

Their next outing, the next weekend, was to a horse ranch. Darius got his first lessons on how to ride a horse.

He was very nervous of the animals up-close, at first. By the end of the day, however, he was exhausted and, for the first time, had experienced elation from something other than reading.

Over time, Darius grew to identify more and more with the cowboys Jake had initially shoved down his throat. Their stoicism and quiet competence, after all, reminded him very much of himself. As did the part where most of them were loners. One afternoon, Jake had taken him to see a matinee showing of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That night, he wrote a short story featuring Malcolm Powell, a modern-day vigilante who used a six-shooter to eke out justice while staying one step ahead of the law in the American southwest. Another day, nearly a year later, Jake brought home a VCR (borrowed from a co-worker) and an unmarked tape. He swore Darius to secrecy that he would never reveal to Helen that Jake had shown him the picture (Helen being out of town that day). Jake was rewarded by hearing his son laugh out loud for the first time ever as Cleavon Little asked a group of toughs to clap for the Waco Kid.

As the years passed, Darius grew more and more adept at riding. This had its downsides: Helen would occasionally force him into showing off his riding skill at various venues. Darius reluctantly went along with this, especially after Helen threatened him with - the horror - band camp. He did win a few ribbons, though, and didn't object too loudly when Helen put them on prominent display in the living room.

The summer he turned thirteen, his parents made plans to go on an extended couples' retreat. At first, Darius held out a little hope that the retreat meant he would get to spend the summer with his cool Aunt Amy. (Quinn, unfortunately, would also be there...after all, every silver lining has a cloud). When Helen told him that wouldn't be the case, he was worried for a brief moment that he and Quinn would actually be shipped off to Aunt Rita's.

And then Helen revealed the two would be going to a summer camp. Camp Grizzly, they called it. Darius felt like throwing up.

The one consolation, he found out later, was that the camp held a small horse stable, and had extensive riding trails. He doubted they would be as rough as he was used to, being a kids' camp and not the Texan wilderness, but at least he wouldn't be completely bored.

The stables were the very first place he went after arriving at camp, even before dropping his pack off at his assigned cabin. "Evening, ladies," he said, introducing himself. (He had the foresight to check that they were all in fact ladies - no need to embarrass himself). He said a few words to each horse, gently stroking each of their manes, noticing which ones were placid and which ones were jittery and which ones had a bit of a wild streak. Not that that last amounted for much - he didn't expect to find any wild horses at a camp intended for children who'd probably never seen a horse before in their life.

He rode every day, for hours at a time, blowing off most of the scheduled camp activities. The camp's owner Mr. Potts didn't mind (actually thanking Darius for giving the horses a lot of exercise), but Skip Stevens, self-proclaimed king of camp and Darius' bunkmate, was put on edge by Darius' perceived 'disloyalty' to Camp Grizzly. Skip's response to this was the usual petty crap - short-sheeting his bed, the shaving cream plus feather trick, extra rocks in his backpack during hikes...basically, nothing original.

Finally, the day came when that day's activity was riding on the horses along the trails. Mr. Potts, who really was impressed with Darius' riding ability, actually assigned him to assist one of the counselors. The counselor, a bored young man earning enough money to make it through another semester of community college, shrugged and told Darius to hand out the horses himself. Darius suspected this was due to the funny-smelling smoke in the air, as well as the unusual way the counselor held one hand behind his back in a totally not conspicuous way at all.

Having had a few weeks to familiarize himself with the horses, he passed them out to the other waiting campers, making sure that the more nervous campers got the gentlest horses. (He may not have been fond of them, but horse safety had been drilled into him right from the start).

He gave Skip the rowdiest horse. He was sure Skip could handle it.

After helping some of the shorter kids up into their saddles, he turned around and saw Skip on a different horse than the one he had been assigned. "Skip, where's Applejack?"

Skip snorted. "What, that dumb horse? It didn't like me, so I traded with some girl who thought he was cute."

"All the horses are girls, you idiot," Darius chided as he scanned the clearing. "Where'd they go?"

Skip shrugged. "Beats me," he said, not volunteering to look for her or anything.

Darius scowled and mounted up on the horse he'd chosen for himself, mainly for speed (so that he could outrun idiots like Skip).

"Everybody wait here!" he called as he spurred the horse on. If something happened to that girl, it'd gnaw on the conscience he claimed he didn't have. And she had the roughest horse in camp. Which, as he kept reassuring himself, didn't mean much in a camp meant for kids whose only equine experience came from television. But still...he leaned forward, to decrease wind drag and increase speed. The gains were probably not enough to matter. But still.

After an hour (which was actually only a few minutes' time amplified by Darius' worrying gut), Darius finally caught sight of the other horse. "Faster!" he urged aloud to the horse. As they drew closer, Darius' worst fears were confirmed: Applejack was indeed out of control, and the girl was gripping her mane and screaming, trying her best not to fall off. Darius scanned his memory of this particular trail, and lightning-quick remembered that a river was just up ahead. He had to stop the horse before then, or else it might stop suddenly and throw her, or leap the river and throw her, or do any number of things with the end result of throwing her.

The horse he rode seemed to understand the situation, and redoubled its efforts. They were closing the gap, but Darius wasn't sure it was enough. Around one more corner, and there! The river was only a few hundred feet away.

He almost made it. He was almost close enough to touch Applejack when she reached the river and, without slowing down an inch, leapt clear over it. (It was not a wide river). The young woman's screaming jumped up two straight octaves and she lost both her grip on the mane and her balance on the saddle. She went tumbling through the air...

Darius grabbed her by the arm and, in an almost superhuman burst of strength, pulled her out of her fall and onto the saddle. His horse reared up as it came to a stop, but Darius had much more experience on horses than the unfortunate girl, now trembling against his body, and both he and she stayed on the saddle.

Once she realized she was no longer moving, the girl looked up into Darius' face. He also examined hers: framed by long, brown hair parted in the middle, wearing glasses (square frames, unlike Darius' round ones), and freckled cheeks which were still trembling and wet from her panic-tears. Darius was reminded of a mouse.

She fixed her glasses (having gone crooked during the wild ride) and opened her mouth for a moment before actually speaking. "You...you saved my life!"

Darius shrugged. "Nah...if you fell, you probably wouldn't have gotten anything worse than a few stitches."

"You saved my life!" The girl was more insistent now, and enthusiastic about the fact.

Abruptly, she leaned up and kissed Darius on the lips.

Darius was so taken aback that he jerked backwards, falling ass-over-teakettle out of the saddle, and landed facedown in a puddle of mud.

It was times like these, Darius reflected, that he regretted ever picking up Black Beauty.

XXXXXXXXXX

A few weeks back, I considered doing an AU fic where Daria was a stereotypical cowboy. This would have been played for laughs, though I don't know how much mileage I could have gotten, no matter how uproarious the idea of Daria carrying twin six-shooters through Lawndale challenging everybody who looked at her funny to a showdown might be.

Then it struck me to use a gender-swapped Daria, and everything else just kind of fell into place.

I have two more chapters in mind for this story, and I really look forward to writing them!

(One more thing...I don't fully like the name, so if somebody comes up with a better-sounding one, I'd love to hear it). 


	2. Chapter 2

Darius pulled himself up from the mud and wiped some of the filth from his face. He removed his glasses (dirty, of course) and walked over to the stream to rinse them off in. Of course, they were now streaked with water, but at least he could see through-

The girl had reached down and plucked the glasses off his face. "Hey!" Darius cried out in protest, but she just used the hem of her shirt to properly dry the glasses and handed them back. "...Thanks," Darius finally muttered.

He didn't immediately put them back on, instead deciding to take off his shirt and rinse it off in the river. "Thanks again for saving my life," she said, still smiling like a loon. "I'm Amelia." She held a hand down to Darius, who didn't take it, as he was wringing out his shirt. He would have washed his pants here too, but for the audience.

"Darius," Darius said after a bit. He put the damp shirt back on. "Let's get back to camp now."

"Okay." Amelia made no move to get down from the horse.

"Could you get down from the horse, please?"

Amelia looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was in your seat." She shifted her weight a little, but her legs just wiggled as she began to hyperventilate. Sighing, Darius reached up and held her sides to steady her. Instantly, her breathing returned to normal, and she moved the leg farthest from Darius over to his side, and slowly slid off the saddle. He let go of her as soon as possible, but she looked up at him starry-eyed nonetheless. "Thanks," she said, a little breathlessly. "I'm kind of afraid of heights."

Darius looked at the horse, the saddle on her being a mere three feet off the ground, and rolled his eyes. He mounted up on the horse and gestured to Amelia to follow alongside him. "Let's go."

Amelia looked a little confused. "Um, won't you get cold?"

"Cold from what?"

"You know...falling into that mud, and your shirt's soaking wet from the river and all..."

Darius glanced up at the July sun and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He'd be very surprised if it wasn't over ninety degrees out. "I think I'll be fine," he finally said.

"Oh." She followed alongside him for a few minutes in silence. (He had the horse going at a very slow pace. He wasn't going to leave her like an ass, no matter how irritating).

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Highland."

"Where's that?"

"Texas."

"Wow, that's far away! I live in Leeville, a few hours from here."

"Mhm." The ride was blissfully silent for a few minutes more. Then Darius looked down and saw Amelia was already winded. "Oh hell," he muttered under his breath. "Look, do you want up here?"

Amelia's smile (which had been flagging along with herself) returned in all its luminosity, and she nodded eagerly, too excited to actually say yes.

"Come on, then," he said, scooting forward in the saddle some. The horse protested some at the added weight, but Darius reassured her and settled her down.

So, with her arms wrapped tightly around his midsection (Darius could have told her to let go, but didn't want to risk her losing balance and falling again), they returned (at a faster pace now) to where Darius had left the other campers.

Of course they had all left. If Darius had to guess, they'd been spurred on by Skip. Well, if the idiots got lost and died of exposure, at least something would have gone right that day. He glanced at the stables and saw, to his annoyance, Applejack, the rogue horse, had already made her way back and was in her stall, looking for all the world like she was queen of the world. "Damned horse," he muttered.

After stabling Darius' horse, he and Amelia returned to the camp proper, and made their way to the nurse's station.

"Aren't you two supposed to be out on the riding trails?" she asked, ignoring the fact that Darius looked half-drowned and caked in dirt.

Darius gestured to Amelia. "She fell off her horse. Could you check her out?"

Amelia shook her head. "Oh, I'm fine. Darius saved my life!" she gushed, smiling back at him. The nurse smirked knowingly. "Oh, and Darius fell off his horse too." Darius scowled.

"Well, I'll check you both out, just to be safe."

XXXX

After bandaging a few of the scrapes Darius accrued in his fall and advising Amelia to rest the arm Darius had yanked, the two left and had to part ways.

Amelia was doing the starry-eyed look thing again, making Darius uncomfortable. "Well, I guess this is goodbye," she said.

"We still have two more weeks of camp," Darius observed.

"Oh!" Amelia giggled. "Sorry. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around then." Without warning, she wrapped her arms around him, then kissed his cheek (making him flinch) and waved goodbye as she walked towards the girls' cabins.

"Great," Darius muttered as he made his way to the showers (with a pit stop at his cabin for a change of clothes).

XXXX

Amelia was more or less his shadow for the rest of his stay at Camp Grizzly.

This meant that Darius had to spend extra time giving her beginner's lessons on how to handle a horse. Not doing so meant that Amelia would walk beside him, and he'd get guilty after hearing her start to pant from exhaustion again, and she'd end up riding behind him again. Damn conscience.

He supposed it would have been much easier to make some crass remark and blow her off, but...he couldn't bring himself to do it. He could have done it if Amelia were an asshole or an idiot, but she was neither of those things. Damn conscience.

The quality of his riding was severely diminished, as well, as he had to go at the pace Amelia set (a very slow pace), and she chattered incessantly, distracting him from the ride. If he wanted to, he could outpace her easily, but he knew she would then want to catch up, and her inexperience with horses might very well cause the one she rode to go haywire again, putting her at risk. Damn conscience. (Not to mention that he didn't want to have 'saved her life' a second time).

Her companionship wasn't just limited to the horses, oh no. She was glued to him practically from the second he stepped out of his cabin. (She even snuck into the cabin one morning, but had gotten in trouble for that, so she waited right outside from then). She sat next to him for every meal in the mess hall, which inspired Skip and a few of his cronies to hurl insults and jeers his way. Of course their opinions were worth less than the effort the cook put into the meals, but it was still an unnecessary hassle.

She even followed him into the woods whenever he went off to read one of the books he had managed to sneak in under Helen's nose. He lent her one of his books just so that she wouldn't talk non-stop while he read. Very annoyingly, when he once sat in the middle of a small clearing, Amelia now sat with her back to his, so he was well aware every time she moved (like whenever she had an itch, or whenever she swung at a curious insect, or whenever she turned a page in her book). Still, he reasoned to himself, there would be no use in getting up and moving, as she would probably not take the hint and would follow him and sit in the exact same way. And if he put his back to a tree, she would probably sit in front of him and spend more time staring at him over the top of the book than actually reading, and that would be almost as distracting as her talking non-stop.

One time, they were caught leaving the woods together, and Mr. Potts spoke with both of them. He cautioned them that while they may be experiencing some strange new feelings, they shouldn't act on them until later in life, and should spend more time with other campers. Or a counselor. Darius knew exactly what topic Mr. Potts was dancing around, and pointedly asked him what in particular he was referring to. This caused the camp's owner to blush slightly, as he hemmed and hawwed and finally mumbled something about bears being in the woods. Darius (and Amelia) still went off into the woods, the only effect Mr. Potts' talk being that whenever any sound whatsoever came from the forest, Amelia would let out a squeak and grab onto Darius as hard as she could, fearing a wild grizzly was seconds from bursting through the tree line and making a dinner out of them both. Darius sighed and silently cursed Mr. Potts every time he pried Amelia's steel-grip hands from his torso and explained that there were likely no bears for hundreds of miles. (He did this kindly, of course, so as to not hurt her feelings. Damn conscience).

The only times he had a reprieve from Amelia were when he was in the bathroom (not a place he was eager to linger in for any period of time, given the smell) and his cabin at night. The latter wasn't much better, as Skip and the other cabin residents engaged in such sophisticated activities as farting contests, burping contests, and on one memorable occasion a raid on Camp Puma with rolls of toilet paper swiped from the supply stores. (Darius sat that one out).

Close to the end of camp, the most humiliating event in Darius' young life took place. Mr. Potts prepared a watermelon for the campers, but to get it they had to play a little game. He applied Vasoline to the watermelon's surface and tossed it into the water. Whichever camper fished it out first got to eat it. Darius was uninterested in watermelons, but was forced into playing anyway. After the requisite taunting by Skip, all the campers dived into the water except him. He intended to use this opportunity to sneak off and hopefully have some Amelia-free time, but Skip broke the surface of the water, shouted "Come on, slacker!" reached up and pulled Darius into the water.

He coughed and spluttered as he pulled himself back onto the dock, as he hadn't had a chance to hold his breath. Fortunately, his glasses had fallen on the dock, instead of into the water. "Hey, the weenie roast isn't until tonight!" Skip jeered. Darius looked down and saw that the fall into the water had knocked his swim trunks right off. And everybody was watching. Right before he covered himself and broke into a dead run to the cabins, he spied Amelia treading water nearby. Her face was tomato red.

She couldn't look at him without blushing after that, nor could she talk without stammering every few words.

Finally, the last day of camp was upon him, and he could almost smile. He had woken just before sunrise and was fully packed by the time morning reveille played. He allowed the faintest hope that his parents had gotten up at an ungodly hour just to arrive to pick him up first thing, but knew they would probably arrive near sunset, like the other parents.

There were many activities that day, most of which Darius ignored. Amelia kept following around (blushing still), and they shared one last horse ride together. (This ride was actually halfway pleasant, as Amelia hardly talked at all, due to embarrassment about her stammering. The day eventually drew to a close, and Darius and Amelia returned the horses to the stable, where Darius said a final goodbye to them all, and thanked them for their civility. (Except Applejack). They returned to the center of camp to find that most of the parents had already arrived. He greeted Jake and Helen as enthusiastically as he could (not at all) and loaded his bags into the trunk. He was surprised to find that, instead of leaving right away, there was to be one more camp activity: Mr. Potts would be handing out awards for 'camp spirit'. Darius rolled his eyes, but his parents dragged him along anyway.

To nobody's surprise, Skip Stevens won the bulk of the awards: most of the athletic ones, a few revolving around 'camp cheer' (whatever the hell that meant), and one award granting him the title of honorary junior counselor. Mr. Potts announced the last award, Camper of the Year, and Amelia walked up on stage behind him, and Darius could already tell what was going to happen. He stared as hard as he could at the floor, desperately willing a hole to open up so he could jump into it.

"This camper was not the most enthusiastic person to grace the hills of Camp Grizzly," Mr. Potts intoned. "However, his care for the gentle horses stabled here has shown him to be one of the most compassionate. His skill with these beasts was demonstrated to great effect earlier this season when, in an act of great fortitude, he went above and beyond the call of the average Grizzly and rescued one of his peers from certain doom. It is with the greatest pride that I award Camper of the Year to Darius Morgendorffer!"

There was a great round of applause from the audience, as Helen embraced him and Jake slapped him enthusiastically on the back. "That's my boy!" he said, pride shining in his eyes. With the gait of an old man, Darius eventually made his way up to the stage, where Amelia pinned the ribbon to his chest. ("Ow!" Darius protested as she accidentally jabbed him in the ribs. The crowd laughed). After that, Amelia hugged him tightly around the neck (almost cutting off his air flow) then, in front of absolutely everybody, kissed him on the cheek. Darius returned to his seat as fast as possible, catching the knowing smiles from his parents out of the corner of his eye.

After that, Darius and the rest of his family made their way back to the parking lot. Darius waited impatiently by one of the rear doors for Jake to unlock it, but as Jake fumbled with the keys, Helen pointed behind him. "Darius, don't you want to say goodbye to your friend?" Darius turned around, seeing Amelia standing a few feet away, fidgeting. Darius sighed and approached her.

"So this is it, huh?" she said. Her eyes were brimming with tears. "Will you be back next summer?"

"I...uh. I don't know. I don't think so," Darius answered truthfully. "Unless my parents go on another long vacation like they did this summer."

"Oh," Amelia looked forlorn. "Do...do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

"I don't know," Darius replied, feeling very uneasy about the situation.

Suddenly, Amelia wrapped her arms around Darius again (his midsection this time), burying her face into his chest. "Oh Darius, I'll miss you so much! This was the best summer of my life, even when that crazy horse tried to kill me!" She was now openly weeping, staining Darius' shirt with her tears. "Promise you'll never forget me, Darius?" She looked up at him again, her face swollen and blotchy.

"...I promise," Darius finally said, his voice a little shaky. He wondered if he had caught something.

"Oh, thank you, Darius," she said, squeezing him tightly again. She stepped back a little, taking his hands into hers, looking into his eyes. "Darius, I...I..." She abruptly kissed him on the lips for the second time. "Goodbye!" She turned and dashed towards (presumably) her mother's car.

Darius watched until the car pulled out of its spot and drove out of sight. Jake walked up beside him and squeezed his shoulder. "Time to go, kiddo," he said gently.

They were finally on their way home. As the car exited the parking lot, Quinn spoke up. "You know, Darius and that girl would sneak off into the forest alll the time," she blabbed.

"WHAT?" Helen shouted, turning around to interrogate Darius.

Darius began bumping his head against the window. At least things were back to normal now.

XXXXXXXXXX

I'd like to thank 45Ranger, who reminded me of Jake's confusing of Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, and Rio Grande in the Camp Fear episode, thus inspiring me to change the title from 'Cowboy Blues' to 'Rio Grizzly'. Thanks!

I think the next chapter will be the last, unless I find a way to go into sudden death overtime or something. Look for it sometime in the next few days! 


	3. Chapter 3

"Nervous?" Jane asked, a playful smirk on her lips. Darius shook his head - negative. And it was true, too. Well, mostly. There was a small pit of unease in his stomach at returning to Camp Grizzly. Skip Stevens was part of it...if he was anything like he was five years ago, he would still be forcing Darius and the other campers - no, alumni, the invitation said, as if Camp Grizzly were a learning institution and not the school of hard knocks - he would still be forcing Darius and the others to participate in the most banal and humiliating activities imaginable.

He still hadn't told Jane about the watermelon game, and never would. He knew her first reaction would be to ask for pictures.

The rest of his unease stemmed from...Amelia. To this day, she still set him on edge in a way nobody else ever could. Amelia was another aspect of camp life he hadn't told Jane. Maybe if he was lucky, Amelia had moved to New Delhi in the intervening years, and wouldn't be attending the reunion.

The Tank finally arrived at the camp, and he, Jane and Trent exited the 'vehicle'. Naturally, the first thing Darius spotted was Amelia, and naturally, she spotted him right back. "Oh hell," he muttered, turning away, but it was too late.

"Darius? Is that you?"

"Hi, Amelia," he resignedly responded.

"Thank God it's you!" She briefly hugged him. Jane smirked at the look of discomfort on his face. "I was afraid you weren't coming, and then there would be no reason for me to come, because I wouldn't have anyone to talk to. What's new?" She turned to Jane and Trent, and a funny look crossed her face. "Who are your friends, Darius?"

"Um. This is Jane, and Trent, Jane's big brother."

"Hey," Jane greeted.

"Hey," Trent greeted.

"Hey, Grizzlies!" Skip Stevens called out as he approached, completing the visual of Darius' perfect hell. "Skip Stevens, Alumni Coordinator. Grab a Grizzly t-shirt!" He handed them out as he talked.

"But they didn't go here," Amelia pointed out quickly.

"Camp Puma, I should have known," Skip practically snarled. Darius tuned out the rest of his rant as he gathered back the t-shirts he'd given Jane and Trent and marched off.

"You know, we really should be going," Jane finally said.

"Yeah, we better hit the road," Trent added, both of them a little creeped out by Skip's enthusiasm.

Before getting into the Tank, Jane walked over and planted a big kiss on Darius' cheek. She smirked at the look of discomfort he showed on his face again. "Later, Darius!"

After the Tank pulled out of the parking lot, he used the Camp Grizzly t-shirt Skip had shoved into his hands and wiped the imprint of Jane's lipstick off his face. (At least, he hoped he got it all). "Well, Amelia, how have...where did you go?" He looked around and realized Amelia had disappeared sometime in the past two minutes. "Huh." He tossed the soiled t-shirt into a trash can.

XXXX

Darius sat on a picnic bench, trying to read with Mr. Potts giving a speech to the assembled 'alumni' in the background. (Skip interjecting commentary every few minutes didn't help either). He occasionally looked up from his book to see if Amelia was around, but didn't see her anywhere. It was strange; he had anticipated Amelia would be gushing over him, or at least blushing over him by now. After thinking that, he shook his head, and said to himself, "I'm starting to sound like Trent."

Thinking about Amelia reminded him of how they first met, and he wondered if the horse stable was still there. Curious, he closed his book and headed off in the direction of where he remembered the building being located.

To be honest, he was hoping to get some riding in. He hadn't gotten as much riding in as he would have liked ever since moving to Lawndale, it being more urban than rural, like Highland was. (He was a little disgusted at being nostalgic for Highland, of all places, but there it was). There was a place outside town that had a few horses, but it was pretty far. He had taken Jane out there once, but she didn't like horses. (Mostly because one bit her, to Darius' amusement). So, by spending less time with horses, he spent more time with Jane. He didn't really regret the decision...much.

The horse stable was still there, and by the smell of things, so were the horses. He walked in and silently greeted each one, having grown out of talking to them so much. He noted that most of the horses from his youth were gone...except for Applejack. Damn horse that started it all.

As he got one horse ready to ride, he realized there was an unusual sound in the stable. After a moment, he recognized it: crying. He tried ignoring it, and almost finished with the horse before that damned conscience finally got to him. He walked to the farthest stall (which he recalled only kept blankets that Mr. Potts used to keep the horses warm during windy or snowy weather) and found none other than Amelia, curled up into a fetal position, sobbing into her hands.

Every instinct in Darius began screaming for him to run away. He shook off that feeling and instead approached, wondering if he should feel guilty for some reason. "Um. Hey, Amelia," he finally, awkwardly, said.

Amelia looked up, startled. "Oh! Darius." She managed to choke back her tears with visible effort, as she used her hands to wipe most of the ones that had already leaked out off her face. "I'm...I'm sorry you had to see me like this. I'll be going now." She stood up and almost walked past him, but he put a hand on her shoulder, and she stopped stiffly.

"Look...why don't you tell me what's wrong, Amelia?"

She turned and faced him again, and as Darius watched, her face crumpled, and she burst into tears again, putting her hands to her face to hide it from his view again. "Just go away, okay?" she said, sounding agonized.

Darius wondered what he should do next. He really should have walked away, he supposed, but even now his being steeped in 'cowboy culture' since youth pressured him into doing right for Amelia. So he walked up close to her and - very hesitantly - put his arms around her, and together they stood like that for what seemed like an hour.

Once Amelia had finally dried up, she lifted her face from her hands again, and looked into his eyes. "You must think I'm so stuh-stupid," she confessed.

"Um." The statement came entirely out of left field. "I...I don't think you're stupid, Amelia. What's wrong?"

"It...it's just...you came to the reunion, and I saw you, and I thought...and then that Jane girl kissed you, and..." She burst into fresh tears.

Darius' brain finally understood - or at least, it thought it understood. "You think Jane and I are together? Dating?"

Amelia nodded, not looking up from her hands.

"We're not. We're not dating, at all."

Amelia looked up from her hands. "You're not?"

Darius shook his head no. "She's not even into guys - or girls, for that matter - after some bad experiences the last year or so." (Jane in fact identified herself as a vibrator-sexual these days, but Darius felt that was a little too much information to share with Amelia).

Perplexion shone on Amelia's face. "But I saw her kiss you."

Darius scowled a little. "She does that to me all the time. She just enjoys humiliating me in public. Trust me, she's not even interested in me...uh, 'that' way. If she likes a guy, she makes it very clear."

"So you're not seeing her? Or anyone else?" Darius shook his head to indicate his bachelorhood. Amelia broke out into a wide grin and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him almost tightly enough to cut off his air flow.

She then released the hug and leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Again.

A strangled "Urk!" came out of Darius' mouth as he almost fell backwards, taking a few steps back to balance himself. When he looked back at Amelia, she looked hurt, like Darius had taken a knife and stuck it into her belly, and instantly Darius felt terrible that he had caused that expression on her face.

"Why don't you like me?" Amelia asked in a quiet voice. "Is it because I'm suh-suh-so ugly?" She began to cry again, but no longer bothered to cover her face. "I nuh-know I'm not puh-pretty like Tracy or suh-Cindy, you know, your cousin's friends, buh-buh-but..." She trailed off as her sorrow rendered her incapable of speech.

Darius approached Amelia again. "Amelia...you're not ugly. You're actually...not unpleasant to look at. At all. And...Tracy is an ugly person. But ugly on the inside. And you're not. Ugly on the inside, I mean." Darius was in completely uncharted territory, and it showed.

"Then...then why did you recoil when I kissed you? Are you gay?" Amelia then looked briefly mortified. "Uh, I mean, it's okay if you're gay, I just..."

Darius shook his head. "No, I'm not gay. I, uh...I'm not gay."

"Then why don't you want to kiss me?"

Darius opened his mouth, but for once was unable to come up with a good answer.

Why didn't he want to kiss her?

It honestly hadn't occured to him, at least, not on a conscious level. He had always evaluated Amelia to the context of being an awkward adolescent in an unpleasant summer camp, and as such had always considered her to be part of why he had despised camp. Now, though, he forced his brain to examine Amelia outside of that context, and within a moment he had his answer.

By the time Darius had finished thinking, Amelia had turned her back to him, and had started walking out of the stable. He caught up to her and tugged on her arm. She turned around and said, "What is it?"

Darius leaned in and kissed her.

He pulled away after a few seconds and opened his eyes. Amelia's eyelids fluttered open a few seconds after. "...Really?" she asked, a little out of breath.

Darius could only nod and, incredibly enough, smile.

Their lips met halfway after that.

After a few minutes, they found themselves on top of one of the horse blankets, and Darius' hand was up under both Amelia's shirts. "I think we should slow down," Darius said, the hardest thing he'd ever had to say. "I don't have any...uh, protection...with me."

Amelia just smiled slyly and pulled a small, plastic-wrapped packet out of her pocket. "I brought it...well...just in case."

Darius took it and looked up at Amelia. "Are...are you sure?"

She leaned down and kissed him again. "I trust you."

XXXX

Afterwards, they lay beneath the blanket, nothing between them. Amelia spoke first. "I wanted to tell you I loved you, on that night we left camp."

"I know," Darius assured her, having figured it out at the same time everything else crashed down onto him.

"That's not when I first knew, though. I first knew I loved you the second you saved my life." She giggled and looked over her shoulder at him. "Yeah, I know, I probably 'wouldn't have gotten anything worse than a few stitches', but what you did swept me off my feet just as easily as if you had slain a dragon and rescued me from its lair."

Darius remained silent for a minute, as he gently ran his hand up and down the length of her body. "I think I loved you a little while after that, when you kissed me and I fell into that mud puddle. I just...I had no idea that that's what it was. I thought it was just a strange, new form of being irritated with somebody."

Amelia turned around and they shared another kiss. "Sounds about right," she said, giggling. He joined in her laughter, and soon they were kissing again.

XXXX

Jane looked around. "Do you see him, Trent?" she asked.

"Nah," he replied.

They had been waiting for fifteen minutes, and Jane was starting to get worried. From what Darius had mentioned about the camp, she had expected him to have been there waiting. She entertained thoughts about rescuing him from the death cult led by that Skip asshole, until...

"There he is," Trent said, pointing.

Jane looked. "Trent, that isn't Darius. He's smiling. And holding some girl's hand. Wait, that's Amelia from before. Wait, that's Darius! What the hell?"

"...and I'll call you once I get home." Jane heard the last bit of sentence as Darius got within earshot.

"I can't wait," Amelia said, the smile on her face as wide as Darius'. And then, to Jane's even greater shock, they kissed. They kissed! Darius waved as Amelia got into her ride, and kept waving until the car disappeared around the corner.

"Hey Jane, Trent," Darius greeted as he got into the van. "How was your day?"

"Apparently not as good as yours," Jane understated. "What's all this smiling about?"

"I think he got laid," Trent said with a knowing smile.

Jane chuckled. "Yeah, that's right, Trent, Darius got laid." She stopped chuckling once she realized Darius wasn't making a snide remark. "...Oh my GOD, you got LAID!" Jane was now grinning as wide as Darius. "Tell me everything."

XXXXXXXXXX

And thus ends Rio Grizzly!

I did for a while consider a scene where Skip makes an ass of himself at the reunion, necessitating Darius lays him out with a punch, but as I wrote towards the end of this chapter, it felt totally unnecessary.

I know there's been a lot of clamoring to expand this into a full-on series, but I just don't have it in me, I'm sorry to say. :( I hate to disappoint everybody who asked, but this'll be it.

Of course, if you wanted to write your own Stoic Cowboy Darius story based off this fic, go ahead! I'd love to read whatever you all could come up with. Go nuts! 


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